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Pedal Power in Paris

There are as many ways to do Paris as there are cafés and eateries in the French capital. Now visitors have the option of floating down the Seine on a boat powered by their own fitness cravings. The Paris Navigating Gym project is a 65-foot boat propelled by passengers’ workouts. The vessel features ARTIS workout machines designed by equipment maker Technogym that harness the energy produced in the boat’s fitness area. Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT Senseable City Lab in Boston and a founding partner of Carlo Ratti Associati, says the vessel “investigates the potential of harnessing human power, at the same time producing a new urban experience.”

The Seine River Gym Boat is equipped with sports equipment that harnesses human energy and provides it for other uses.

Photo courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati

You Think You Own This Road?

Machines might become more skilled drivers than humans, but how will they handle sharing the road with slowpokes and other mere mortals, whose human shortcomings can seem more pronounced behind the wheel of a car? That’s one of just several concerns about autonomous vehicles that emerged from a poll of Europeans by Goodyear and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Twice as many respondents agreed (43 percent) as disagreed (19 percent) that AVs would be safer, since human error is behind most accidents. At the same time, 73 percent of respondents expressed worry that AVs could malfunction, while 60 percent were concerned that “machines don’t have the common sense needed to interact with human drivers.”

Driverless cars might make fewer errors, but sharing the road with humans is something else entirely.

Photo: Getty Images

Israeli native Adi Ofek leads Daimler’s new venture in Tel Aviv.

Daimler Expands Into Israel

Germany’s Daimler is joining a growing number of automakers in establishing an R&D presence in Israel. The company announced in November that it’s launched a new facility in Tel Aviv, thus expanding Daimler’s global network of 24 research centers, which is anchored in Germany, but also includes outposts in the US, India and China. Daimler’s Technology Center in Tel Aviv is to be headed up by Adi Ofek, a native Israeli who has been with Daimler since 2000. Daimler says its Tel Aviv presence will advance the company’s focus on autonomous driving, digitalization, connectivity and security.

Cape Town to Build Rolls-Royce Train Engines

Rolls-Royce is localizing the manufacture of locomotive engines to be built for South Africa’s Transnet Freight Rail. The engines are to be assembled, tested, painted and commissioned at a plant in Cape Town that’s been upgraded to the tune of close to $4 million. The MTU brand is a part of Rolls-Royce Power Systems. “Africa is an extremely interesting market for us and one in which we see enormous room for growth potential” says Bernd Krueper, vice president, Industrial Business at MTU. “We regard the upgrading of our facility in Cape Town as an important strategic step towards deepening our partnership in Africa,” says Krueper.

Rolls-Royce is to build locomotive engines in Cape Town, South Africa.

Photo courtesy of Rolls-Royce

Hong Kong Disneyland Going “Immersive”

Hong Kong’s Disneyland, open since 2005, will add 20 new attractions as part of a five-year expansion plan tagged at $1.4 billion. Costs are to be split with the Hong Kong government paying some $740 million and Disney picking up the rest. The “Phase 2” development is to be completed in 2023, with the rollouts of new attractions being staggered over time, including Disney’s first immersive themed areas using its “Frozen” and “Marvel Super Heroes” properties. Hong Kong Disneyland received over 58 million visitors during its first 10 years of operation, adding an estimated 0.38 percent to Hong Kong’s GDP.

Photo courtesy of Hong Kong Tourism Board

Gary Daughters
Senior Editor

Gary Daughters is a Peabody Award winning journalist who began with Site Selection in 2016. Gary has worked as a writer and producer for CNN covering US politics and international affairs. His work has included lengthy stints in Washington, DC and western Europe. Gary is a 1981 graduate of the University of Georgia, where he majored in Journalism and Mass Communications. He lives in Atlanta with his teenage daughter, and in his spare time plays guitar, teaches golf and mentors young people.